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The Week in Stats: Eye on the Cruise Industry

Cruise Shipping Miami was the top of the news in travel stats this week, as tourism organizations used the event as a platform to release new data on how the cruise sector is faring around the world.

54 Million Potential Cruise Passengers From Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) released two new studies on Asia's cruise market, the Asia Cruise Potential and Passenger Behaviour Study and the Asia Cruise Port Development Study.

Initiated by HKTB, the two studies were carried out by the School of Hotel and Tourism Management of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University with the aim of providing insight and useful information on the region's cruise potential.

Visitors Up 7.11 Percent at London Attractions

Outside the cruise world, The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) released encouraging numbers for London attractions. Visitation was up 7.11 percent at London sites and 6.5 percent across the UK.

Scottish attractions had the greatest increase of almost 10 percent.

The British Museum remained the most popular visitor attraction overall for the 8th year running with 6,695,213 visitors and remaining in 2nd place was the National Gallery, which saw a 6.4 percent increase to 6,416,724. Included in the numbers for the first time was the Southbank Centre – who saw 6,255,799 visitors – securing them the position of third place.

Libraries attracted substantial numbers with the Library of Birmingham – which opened in 2013 – being the most visited free attraction outside London, in 10th place with 2,414,860 – proving to be an attraction in its own right - and the British Library saw visits to its public exhibitions and programme rise by 52 percent.

Museums & Galleries throughout the UK saw a 6.09 percent increase, compared to 11.75 percent in London. Blockbuster exhibitions continued to boost visitor numbers – with Tate Modern welcoming a record 5,785,427 (4th place)– which was helped by the Matisse exhibition.